Quote of the Day

	The actual location of the residential centre is of much less significance than the calibre of the staff and the methods of treatment. Residential periods will obviously contain such activities as drama, painting, visits of observation, field studies and outdoor pursuits, but I should like to look very briefly at the less tangible things which could be offered. I am not going to talk about personality restructuring, which may be a long term process aimed at in a very different sort of setting. What we should be able to achieve in a residential centre for intermediate treatment could include the following: 1. Assist with the development of relationship skills. 2. Improve the ability to communicate, i.e., help the young person with such matters as verbalization, awareness and understanding. 3. Teach something about two-way acceptance. 4. Help the young person to gain in self-value and self-responsibility. 5. Help them to look at the home and school situation with the perspective of distance. 6. Help them to come to terms with the realities of life in their home environment. For this last reason termination should be a factor of consideration from the day the residential period begins. The residential centre is concerned with the total education of the young person, moral, physical, intellectual and emotional and to do this it must provide much more than a wide range of outdoor and indoor activities. To fulfil some of the aims I have just mentioned, it should provide the residents with: 1. Constant adult attention and concern. 2. Equality without condescension or over identification. 3. Credible identification models, both male and female. 4. Opportunities to express hostility without fear of rejection. 5. Opportunities to regress without scorn or ridicule. 6. Group opportunities to learn about other people’s problems and to examine their own. 7. Opportunities to achieve something which increases their own feeling of worth and self-respect. 8. The ability to come to terms with the real and sometimes daunting problems of adolescence. In order to achieve all this the staff have to be able to understand and cope with such concepts as projection, transference and touch hunger. Consequently, I reiterate my belief that the staff of these centres must be well trained, credible and professional workers.
	EDWARD DONOHUE Donohue, E. (1976) It is vital we take intermediate treatment seriously. Residential Social Work, Vol.16 No.9, pp.231-234